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Summary: In the Lao People's Democratic Republ~,
there are few possibilities for women
and girls to take part in or benefit
from basic education programmes."
Foreword
Cautious change
A poor country
Economic transition and development of human resources
The education system: time to start again
Great disparities
A second chance
An ambitious project
To begin at the beginning
Community understanding and commitment
Encouraging results
Realistic aims
Features
Facts and frgures
Avoiding black-and-white judgements
Aiming at a 'literate' environment
Portrait: Vansy
Portrait: Soumthaly
Portrait: Khamany
Some questions about the future
Bibliography and acknowledgements
Foreword
In the Lao People's Democratic Republ~, there are few possibilities
for women and girls to take part in or benefit from basic education
programmes." So begins the report presenting the findings of a study
conducted in 1993 by the nongovernmental organization World
Education at the request of UNESCO*. Just five years ago, not only
was education, whether formal or non-formal, inaccessible to a great
number of young Lao women and girls - particularly those belonging to
ethnic minorities - but the very idea that women might lay claim to
it was unknown to the population as a whole.
Against the current of these firmly established beliefs, in 1994, the
Government of the Lao People's Democratic Republic launched the
Women's Literacy and Basic Skills Training project, with UNESCO's
assistance and funding by Norway.
It should be said that initially the project was not devised as a
youth project but as one for girls and women belonging to ethnic
minorities or the most deprived social groups. It was thus not
imagined from the outset to be a candidate for the present
"Innovations for Youth" series, which aims to publish brochures on
education projects fighting the exclusion of young people. The
ongoing monitoring of the project, and its final evaluation after
four years' execution in the field, definitely indicate, however,
that it should be published in this series.
From the very beginning, the activities conducted 'concerned girls
and very young women who otherwise would probably have had great
difficulty in achieving self-fulfilment and contributing to their
family's welfare. One way or another, they ran the risk of being
excluded from the development of their villages, whereas today their
place in development is enviable and often envied. In addition, the
benefits of the non-formal education and basic skills training they
have received from the project are such that today it is boys,
excluded from education and any kind of training, who seek in their
turn to benefit from them. This is such a rare occurrence that it
should be hailed as a sure sign of success.
Lastly, we should note that its broad harvest of results and its
scope have already made the Women's Literacy and Basic Skills
Training project a reference throughout the Lao People's Democratic
Republic, and that it is now beginning to exercise a not
inconsiderable influence over educational thinking in general.
* 'Strategies for the promotion of basic education for women and
girls", by Sholmoli Guttol, World Education, Lao People's Democratic
Republic, December 1993.
Owner: Jean-Pierre Velis